Tyco to Pay $26 Million Over Bribery Claims

Subsidiary pleads guilty.

Tyco International(NYSE: TYC) will pay more than $26 million to settle charges it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Justice Department announced today. A subsidiary, Tyco Valves & Controls Middle East (TVC ME), pleaded guilty this morning to a criminal charge of conspiring to violate FCPA.

“Today, a Tyco subsidiary pleaded guilty to bribing officials of state-owned entities in various countries to score valuable petroleum contracts," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer, with the Justice Department alleging that various Tyco entities bribed foreign officials and "cooked the books to hide the payments" for more than 10 years. According to the criminal information to which TVC ME pleaded guilty, it paid bribes to officials employed by Saudi Aramco, according to the Justice Department.

The settlement involves an almost $14 million penalty, $10.5 million in disgorgement, and $2.5 million in prejudgment interest.

The Justice Department acknowledged Tyco's "timely, voluntary and complete disclosure, its cooperation -- including a global internal investigation concerning bribery and related misconduct -- and its extensive remediation. That remediation includes the implementation of an enhanced compliance program, the termination of employees responsible for the improper payments and falsification of books and records, the severing of contracts with the responsible third-party agents and the closing of subsidiaries due to compliance failures."